3.8.1 Community consultation

Summary of actions

• Assess requirements for effective community involvement.

• Develop a comprehensive strategy for community consultation.

Decisions on drinking water quality made by a drinking water supplier and the relevant regulatory authorities must be aligned with the needs and expectations of consumers. Therefore, the community and appropriate industry sectors should be consulted and involved during decision-making processes.

Discussions should include the establishment of levels of service, costs, existing water quality problems, and the options for protection and improvement of drinking water quality, including constraints on land use and changes in treatment or infrastructure. Consumers should also be consulted on monitoring requirements and mechanisms for public reporting of system performance.

Decisions and agreed levels of service should be based primarily on estimates of risk and cost, together with local knowledge of the source water (including the degree of catchment protection), treatment processes employed, history of the distribution system and the management of water quality. Consumer needs and expectations will influence the extent to which each community will adopt guideline values. For example, one community may choose to tolerate aesthetic problems, while another may choose to pay for treatment to bring water quality within commonly accepted limits.

Decisions about drinking water quality cannot be taken in isolation from other aspects of water supply that compete for limited financial resources. Two major decisions to be made are the levels of service to be provided, and the timeframe within which those levels can be achieved. Priorities will depend on the impact of water quality improvements on public health and on aesthetic considerations (taste, colour and odour). Public health should take a higher priority than aesthetics.

Assessing what is required for effective community involvement can be a complex task, depending on the issues and the community involved. Developing a community consultation strategy entails:

• defining the scope of the issue and the potential links with wider issues or problems. This will provide an indication of the extent of consultation or education required;

• identifying specific interest and stakeholder groups that may be affected, and their needs, existing level of knowledge and attitudes on the issues. All groups should be able to participate in the consultation process irrespective of barriers of language, distance, technical knowledge or lack of resources;

• presenting factual information to the community, consumers and groups in a form that is accessible, understandable and suitable as a basis for informed discussion;

• providing adequate time for consultation. The community should understand and agree to the process proposed for the consultation;

• identifying or developing measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the community consultation process.

Community consultation might include:

• briefings targeted to specific groups with interests or responsibilities;

• workshops or seminars on key issues or for special groups;

• focus groups and market research or surveys to determine community views, knowledge and attitudes;

• customer councils or customer panels;

• informative media programs targeting print media, radio and television;

• community education or information exchange programs;

• school programs;

• preparation of technical issues papers;

• media advertising of activities and available papers;

• public hearings for major and controversial initiatives.

Communications and community involvement should be considered when setting up a community consultation process or when working with, or seeking advice from, professionals in the areas of survey research. Records should be kept of all community consultation.